ROCKLAND — “I, personally, as a councilor and a person who pays taxes, am embarrassed by three of you because process was not followed,” said Rockland City Councilor Louise MacLellan-Ruf. “I take great umbrage and offense when people say, oh no no, this was all discussed.”

Last minute add-ons to the Monday, Sept. 12, 2022 Rockland City Council agenda resulted not only in ire and deep emotions playing out during the two-hour, 12-minute Public Comment prior to the start of the September meeting — which would last another two hours – but also with two of the five councilors claiming no knowledge of the agenda items until this previous weekend when they either read about it in a local newspaper or when angry emails started appearing in their inboxes.

The two add-ons were Short Term Rental ordinances drafted by Mayor Ed Glaser. The first one addressed minor definition clarifications and language, and changes in permit authority, along with one particular section mentioning non owner-occupied STRs and a proposal to limit the number of owners.

The other ordinance amendment involved changing the zones where STRs used as commercial ventures could be allowed.

MacLellan-Ruf and Councilor Nicole Kalloch were told that the City attorney and the City Planner knew about these ordinances.

“That’s not good enough,” said MacLellan-Ruf.

The process wasn’t followed, she said. The proposals should have been vetted. They should have gone to workshop. They should have gone through first and second readings. MacLellan-Ruf estimated that Public Commenters posed about 20 questions that could not be answered.

“Oh, I’m angry,” she said. “November comes, and I’m hoping to have a council that truly understands process, not their own agendas. Not their own social issues. But process.”

MacLellan-Ruf said she could not say where she stood on the issue because she’s still learning about the amendment proposal. Kalloch said that she still did not understand the motive behind the amendment.

“There is the potential for this process to go a lot of different ways,” said Councilor Sarah Austin. “However it was introduced does not preclude us from – as Councilor Kalloch suggested – having a workshop, from pausing the process and not proceeding with votes immediately. We could table it indefinitely. We could vote on it right away.”

Austin spoke of how a previous Rockland Council had expected that the councils to follow would revisit the STR discussions from time to time. She said that workshops had been done and discussions had been had, and more could be considered.

However, she said, the minor clarifications should still be addressed.

“Some of these are useful and needed, whether or not we proceed with any sort of non owner-occupied changes,” said Austin. “Some of these further were items that were recommended by the committee that we’ve heard from regarding Short Term Rentals.”

Prior to voting on the first of the two amendments, councilors attempted to split the amendment into two, separating out the section concerning non owner-occupied STRs, “because, I believe, the offensive part is Section 17 for most people,” said Glaser.

Kalloch, however, was not appeased.

“Even this discussion right now is proof that this was sloppily drafted. It was sloppily researched, and it was sloppily executed,” said Kalloch. “It needs to go to committee. It needs to go to workshop. Just get it off this agenda.”

In the end, Councilors voted 4-1 (Glaser) to postpone the two amendments indefinitely.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com